The House at 56-58 Am Grossen Wansee

The house was built in 1915 as a villa for Ernst Marlier, a factory owner. It was sold in 1921 to Friedrich Minoux, an industrialiast, and again in 1940 to the SS Nordhav foundation for use as a guest house for the Sicherheitdienst - the SD - the security service of the SS.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor caught Hitler by surprise, and the entry of the United States into the war earlier than he had anticipated forced him to move up his timetables. Accordingly, he called on SS-Obergruppenfuhrer (major general) and Deputy Reichs Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and head of the Reichssicherhauptamt (RSHA - Reich Security Main Office), 37-year-old Reinhard Heydrich, the man Hitler said had an "iron heart" and the founder of the SD, to head up a conference on Die Enloesung von dem Judenfrage in Europa, The Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe. On 20 January 1942, he flew himself from Prague to the meeting at this house with the representatives from all aspects of German government and the National Socialist party. Fifteen men met for about 90 minutes, including such dignitaries as Heinrich Mueller, the head of the Geheime Statspolizei (State Secret Police, usually shortened to Gestapo), And Roland Freisler from the Ministry of Justice, who would later head the trials of the 20 July bomb plotters. It was here and then that the final extermination of the Jews and other undesireables was decided upon, and known as Aktion Reinhard in honor of Heydrich after his assassination in Prague in May/June.

In 2008, I was able to walk around the building but not go in. In 2013, I was able to enter, but the welter of exhibits actually detracted from the gravitas of the locale. The empty conference room I photographed through the window I find much more evocative than the room filled with posters and having an awkward display where the table was. Just a matter of personal preference, I suppose.